UAV ARRIVES: The U.S. Navy's first Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), N-1, arrived March 28 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. N-1 is the first of two RQ-4A aircraft the Navy has acquired through the Global Hawk Maritime Demonstration (GHMD) program. It has logged more than 200 flight hours since its first flight in October 2004. The GHMD program will develop concepts of operation for long-duration maritime surveillance UAVs.
Due to an ongoing union dispute with FAA, current air traffic controllers are not participating in the Joint Planning and Development Office's effort to create the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS), a panel of government witnesses told House lawmakers March 29. Testifying before the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics, Gerald Dillingham, director of Civil Aviation Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), called the lack of controller input a "serious problem."
VEHICLES: Oshkosh Truck Corp. has been awarded a $169.2 million delivery order to provide the Marine Corps with 536 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) cargo vehicles, 190 MTVR tractor vehicles and associated kits, the Defense Department said March 29. The work will be done in Oshkosh, Wis. It is expected to be finished in 2008. The delivery order was awarded by the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va.
Federal information technology (IT) spending will grow from $75 billion this fiscal year to $93 billion by FY '11, according to initial findings from a five-year forecast from consultancy firm Input. But defense IT won't steal the spotlight anymore. "Homeland security will get renewed focus but on different priorities, with increased funding for natural disaster relief and preparation," Input said March 28. "The health IT market will also receive a boost with spending projected to increase steadily over the next five years."
NASA's $3 billion slice from its FY '07 science budget has left its high-priority mission to look for life on Jupiter's icy moon Europa in the poorhouse, but agency-backed engineers and astrobiologists are rich in ideas for how to explore Europa if the money ever comes through.
The House Armed Services projection forces subcommittee quizzed the U.S. Navy's four-star commander of Naval Submarine Forces on March 28 over the service's acknowledged submarine shortcomings. Already, 40 percent of combatant commanders' mission requests go unfulfilled and demand is not expected to drop, according to Adm. Charles Munns. He allowed that some preferred scouting missions are not being completed, although all critical missions are being carried out by the current sub fleet.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has chosen Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Integrated Systems unit for a $17.4 million contract for systems engineering and integration in support of Combat System Warfare Federated Tactical Systems (SWFTS). SWFTS is supposed to comprise all submarine combat system subsystems, especially consultation, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence. It will be designed to provide a single combat system for naval battle group interconnectivity.
The March 28 story "NASA gives second chance to Dawn asteroid mission" contained an error. The spacecraft is scheduled to rendezvous with the asteroid Vesta in 2011 and then arrive at Ceres in 2015.
The Pentagon should delay production of the Joint Strike Fighter until it has a better handle on costs and production capability risks, the Government Accountability Office said yesterday. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, a GAO acquisition expert repeated previous findings that both the JSF and the F-22/A programs lack "executable business cases." For example, the Defense Department plans to start producing JSF aircraft in 2007, even though less than 1 percent of the flight-test program will have been completed.
LOBBYING PUSH: Suppliers from across the country will convene in Washington on March 29 and 30 for the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition's lobbying push on Capitol Hill. The now-annual industry outreach comes as carrier-related businesses face the likely prospect of losing an active U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy, to early retirement, as well as intensified budget pressures across the Navy's shipbuilding accounts. Still, the coalition will ask congressional members to authorize funding for the first three ships of the CVN-21 program.
Following the completion of an analysis of alternatives on the military's requirement for a Joint Common Missile, the Pentagon is expected to make a decision about the future of the effort in May, according to Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey. Senior Pentagon officials terminated the Army-led JCM program in December 2004 over the objections of some military leaders and members of Congress. Lawmakers have since inserted money into annual budgets to keep the program alive, but the Army has not requested any JCM funding in FY '07.
Integrated Coast Guard Systems LLC, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. responsible for the Coast Guard's massive Deepwater recapitalization program, is optimistic about getting a five-year renewal on its contract, ICGS President Leo Mackay told The DAILY. "We expect a robust and long-term award that speaks to the stability of the program, the Coast Guard's commitment to the program, and our performance to date on the program," Mackay said.
Integrated Coast Guard Systems LLC, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. responsible for the Coast Guard's massive Deepwater recapitalization program, is looking worldwide - and outside Northrop Grumman - to provide a base ship for the service's planned Fast Response Cutter (FRC), top ICGS officials told reporters March 27.
DURABLE DEFENSE: New orders for manufactured durable goods in February increased $5.5 billion, or 2.6 percent, to $215.8 billion, largely due to defense and aircraft orders, the U.S. Census Bureau announced March 24. Excluding defense, new orders increased 0.3 percent. Defense capital goods jumped $4.8 billion, 104.1 percent, to $9.4 billion. Shipments decreased $400 million, 4.4 percent, to $8.1 billion. Unfilled orders increased $1.3 billion, 1 percent, to $129.3 billion. Inventories decreased $100 million, 0.8 percent, to $15.4 billion.
LONDON - Decisions made in the next two to three weeks could kick-start consolidation in the British naval sector, and potentially launch a short and sharp period of strategic acquisitions.
ARMY AM General L.L.C., South Bend, Ind., was awarded on March 21, 2006, a $5,870,025 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for M1152-2 man chassis for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles. Work will be performed in South Bend, Ind., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on July 17, 2000. The Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (DAAE07-01-C-S001). NAVY
SUB AIS: After months of research, testing and evaluation, all submarine platforms soon will have "real-time situation awareness" available while under way, the U.S. Navy says. In February, the chief of naval operations directed rapid deployment of standalone Automatic Identification System (AIS) capability, including the so-called "silent service." Display and tracking with the AIS technology occurs at periscope depth and above. While AIS is a requirement for all merchant ships greater than 300 tons, it was not mandated for subs.
NASA announced March 27 that it is reinstating the Dawn asteroid rendezvous mission, which the agency canceled earlier this month due to technical problems and cost overruns. Propelled by xenon ion engines, Dawn is to investigate Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. The Orbital Sciences-built spacecraft is expected to launch in the summer of 2007, roughly a year behind its original schedule, and rendezvous with the asteroids in 2016.
